


whenever you're ready

by AlexiaBlackbriar13



Series: s7 pregnant felicity fics [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Heavy Angst, Hugging, POV Felicity Smoak, Set in season 7, Smoak-Queen Family, Technically Canon, Time Travel, pregnant Felicity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 03:22:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18512875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13
Summary: Mia and William from 2040 travel back in time to 2019 to access an uncorrupted version of Archer. Oliver and Felicity investigate a break-in at the bunker only to find their children from the future bickering. Emotional confrontations and conversations ensue.





	whenever you're ready

**Author's Note:**

> this sort of just came to me. i tweeted about it, and the fandom blew it up. you were all begging me to write it. so here you go.
> 
> im sorry for breaking your hearts in advance
> 
>  **warning** : heavy angst

Felicity startles awake in complete darkness with a horrific pressure in her abdomen assaulting her bladder. She wonders for a moment if she might be able to ignore it; a swift glance over at the clock confirms that it’s three in the morning. But when she rolls over to nuzzle into her husband’s warm, bare chest, the movement just seems to increase the pressure. Groaning silently to herself, the blonde carefully slips out from Oliver’s arms, making sure she doesn’t wake him also as she slides off the mattress and heads into the bathroom.

After she’s relieved herself, however, her throat burns with thirst, the water from the bathroom tap making her lick her dry lips. She seriously debates just bending over and drinking straight from the tap, but then remembers the scolding Oliver gave her after she last did that; he brought up a Wikipedia article to list all of the bacteria and pathogens that could live on ‘clean’ metal surfaces. Considering he majorly scienced her, Felicity agreed not to drink straight from the tap again.

Chocolate milk sounds a lot more appealing in her mind than water, anyway. Slipping out of the bedroom door, and casting a quick glance back to check her husband is still deeply asleep - she smiles adorably at the light snores he’s emitting - Felicity makes a beeline for the fridge. Although the harsh blue lights instead make her cringe back and rub at her aching eyes, the wonderful sweet tang of the chocolate milk against her tongue convinces her that this was a fantastic idea.

She’s just draining the rest of her glass and taking it over to the sink when her cell phone, which is on charge next to Oliver’s slow cooker, chimes with an alert. It’s not a normal one - it’s an Archer alert. Relieved that the system seems to still be operational after she re-deployed it last night, Felicity reads over the alert message with a frown - and then after she processes it, her jaw drops and she has to reach out to grab the kitchen island and steady herself.

She’s gently prodding Oliver awake within the next minute, keeping far enough back so that if he lashes out in a half-conscious state, he won’t immediately grab her. He stirs momentarily, his brow furrowing adorably as he mutters under his breath for five more minutes.

“Oliver, wake up,” she whispers urgently. “Somebody’s broken into the bunker.”

He’s instantly alert, sitting up and blinking at her with bleary, sleep-gritted eyes. “Broken into?” he repeats. “It’s not a member of the team making a late night visit?”

“No. Archer says they attempted a hack of the electronic elevator controls but after failing twice, forced the elevator door and climbed down the shaft.” She takes a seat on the edge of the bed, watching her husband as he drags himself around the bedroom, yanking on clothes. As he’s hopping on one leg to get his socks on, Felicity hesitates before telling him, “There was a DNA match.”

Oliver’s head snaps around. “Who is it?”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Felicity mutters to herself, flicking through Archer’s alerts once again to double check her sleep-deprived mind hasn’t hallucinated the name. But - nope - there it is. Archer has confirmed the DNA trace four times since the person broke in.

“Felicity!” Oliver placed his hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently in support. “Who?”

She turns her phone around to show him the alert.

_Identity DNA Confirmed: William Christopher Clayton-Queen._

“But that’s…” Oliver sounds as confused as Felicity feels.

“I know. It can’t be, right?”

Anger flashes through Oliver’s eyes, and Felicity knows what he’s thinking. Maybe somebody kidnapped their son from Central City to use him to gain access to the bunker. But barely a minute of hacking and coding later and Felicity confirms that William is still in Central, safe in bed at his grandparents’ house. She doesn’t know how or why Archer is identifying the intruder as William; perhaps the person somehow used stolen DNA? That suggests that there’s a major design flaw.

“Somebody else broke in with them,” Oliver notes, eyes scanning all the different Archer alerts. “Somebody with unknown DNA. Check the bunker cams?”

“All of the CCTV is down,” Felicity tells him. “It’s the first thing I tried to look at.”

“I’ll have to go down there.”

“Let me come with you.”

Oliver stills, his fingers tangled with his shoelaces. “Felicity…”

“Whoever these people are, they were able to fuck up Archer’s protocols,” she says gravely. “I want to know how. I need to question them.”

The archer swallows, and his eyes lower until his gaze is settled worriedly on the small swell of her stomach. Sighing, Felicity rests a hand over her baby bump in a protective manner. She knows that she promised Oliver that she wouldn’t go out into the field any longer while pregnant, but this is a unique and complicated situation. One pleading and rather stern look at Oliver from her end has him giving in, although her husband makes her promise to stay as far away from the intruders as possible and remain behind him at all times so he can shield her.

When they arrive at the bunker, they sneak in through a back way - around the side of the garage entrance - where Archer hasn’t been successfully installed yet, so if the intruders have miraculously got through Felicity’s security systems to access the program, Oliver and Felicity still won’t be detected. They can hear two voices talking as they creep through the pitch black, Oliver’s hands on Felicity’s waist to guide her, as his night vision is much better than hers. Crouching down behind a counter in the medical area, the two of them peer over the top so they can get a first look at the people who have broken in.

A young man with short light brown hair and average build, probably in his early thirties, is sitting in Felicity’s chair on top of the platform, typing away at her computers. This is most likely the guy who had that weird DNA match with William. A woman who appears younger, in her early twenties - or even late teens - with long wavy hair paces behind him, arms crossed over her chest. Both of them are dressed in black, but making no effort to hide their identities. Felicity attempts to use a facial recognition program on her phone on them both, but comes up blank. Whoever these two people are - they apparently don’t exist.

But upon observing them closer, Felicity almost does a double-take, because she’s shocked and bewildered to notice that these two people do look strangely similar. The man looks like a much older, matured version of their fourteen-year-old son, and the woman… well, she has a startling resemblance to Felicity herself. A glance over at Oliver tells Felicity that she’s not wrong; he sees the resemblance as well. He’s cocking his head sideways, gaze intense but immensely bemused as he stares at the two intruders.

“How much longer is this going to take?” the woman asks impatiently.

“Calm down, Mia,” the man rolls his eyes. “This is 2019 tech. It’s going to take a while. Six minutes until we have a complete download. And it’s a little hard to navigate this stuff - I’ve been working with technology that’s twenty years more advanced than this, remember.”

Felicity’s eyes widen at what his words implicate. Is it possible they’re dealing with time travelers here? And the woman’s name is Mia - it can’t be a coincidence that she and Oliver are going to name the baby she’d currently incubating in her womb Mia if it’s a girl, right?

“But this isn’t any 2019 technology, Will,” the woman, now identified as Mia, replies. “This is _Mom’s_ tech, and I thought you said you know it like the back of your hand.”

 _Will._ Shaking her head, Felicity has to cover her mouth to stifle her gasp. Because she has a theory - an insane, out of this world and yet very plausible theory - about who these two people are. Judging by Oliver’s dumbfounded look, he’s come to the same conclusion.

William and Mia. These are their children, from the future.

“I do,” ‘Will’ responds, leaning back in the chair and swiveling around to face her. “It’s just slower than I would like.”

“Well, is there any way to speed it up? I don’t want Mom and Dad to catch us down here.”

“Relax. It’s April 2019 - that means Felicity is pregnant with you and just about to enter her second trimester. It’s four in the morning. She and Dad are probably at home asleep right now.”

“Probably not asleep,” Mia says. “Mom said I was a nightmare early in her pregnancy - I liked to sit on her bladder and make her need to pee at the most inconvenient times, especially in the middle of the night. Maybe they’re doing a witching hour Big Belly Burger run. Mom told me that there was a solid month where she got the most soul-crushing cravings of chocolate milkshakes and curly fries that she used to dip into them, but only between the hours of eleven pm and five am.”

It’s terrifying how absolutely true that is. There’s no way that’s something anybody could possibly guess or make up. It’s completely accurate.

“Chocolate milkshakes and curly fries? Ew. That sounds disgusting.”

“It’s better than pickles and ice cream. She’s got that coming up soon in the second trimester.”

“2019… such a fun but disastrous year for the Smoak-Queen family.” William peers around the bunker thoughtfully, and Oliver and Felicity have to duck to make sure they aren’t spotted. “It’s weird being back here.”

Mia scoffs. “We use it as Base back in 2040.”

“Yeah, but it’s all in a different set-up then - and half destroyed,” Will tells her. “The last time I saw it like _this_ , with Dad and Felicity operating Team Arrow missions out of it, was two decades ago. Before I chose to leave.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then Mia responds quietly, “You’ve always made it sound like Mom and Dad abandoned you. But you actually left by choice?”

“I wanted a normal life, and as much as they wanted to, Dad and Felicity couldn’t give that to me. I chose to leave and go and live with my grandparents. But as soon as I was gone, all communication between us stopped. I tried to get in contact with them, but they must have changed their phone numbers, because I could never get through. My grandparents refused to let me go back to Star City to visit them. They told me that they didn’t want to see me. I found out years later when I turned eighteen that was all a lie - they’d forced Dad and Felicity out of my life and made sure I would never be able to talk to them - but it still hurts to know that they didn’t make an effort to even try to get around those barriers separating us. Dad’s the Green Arrow - he was the Green Arrow, and Felicity’s Overwatch. If they really wanted to see me, they would have made it happen. Changed my life, finding that out.”

“But you forgive them both so easily.”

“They’re my parents,” William shrugs. “I love them. They love me. We all make stupid decisions sometimes - Dad and Felicity just made a particularly stupid one.”

This is William. This is their son. There’s no doubt in Felicity’s mind now - she knows that this is their boy, grown up and traveled back in time from the future. And to hear William talking about leaving them and then failing to get back in touch with them, despite his efforts, was heartbreaking. They changed their phone numbers, but given them to William’s grandparents so they could still contact each other. She and Oliver thought that William just didn’t want anything to do with them anymore when he didn’t pick up their calls or reply to his texts. That’s why they haven’t been chasing after him - because they thought he doesn’t want to be chased. It’s becoming more and more apparent to Felicity that the lack of communication between them all isn’t their fault - William’s grandparents are keeping them apart deliberately. It makes her unbelievably angry. Oliver’s fingers entwine with hers, but she can see by his expression that he’s furious.

If this is truly William, then that means… Felicity rests her hand over her belly. Oliver’s hand sneaks in from the side and his fingers curl over her own. The child growing inside of her right now is going to be a girl - her name is going to be Mia - and she’s going to turn into that beautiful woman up on the platform in front of them. It’s difficult for Felicity to get her head around it all. This is obviously a paradox and she dreads to think how this is going to affect the time continuum, but seeing her daughter - her and Oliver’s daughter - in the flesh, grown and stunning and strong, she wants to cry.

Mia rolls one of the spare chairs over, taking a seat beside William. Beside her brother. “So when you said that you felt like you were the child they didn’t want…”

“I know deep down that they did want me. They wanted me more than anything. I just wish they’d fought for me a little harder, you know?”

Mia hums under her breath, looking away from William. It takes a second for Felicity to figure out that she’s staring at the Green Arrow suit, where it’s hung up on its storage mannequin. “Yeah.” A wistful little smile tugs at her lips. It’s one very similar to the kind that Oliver gives when they talk about a life beyond their vigilante duties, raising their family. Felicity’s heart clenches at the sight of it. “Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like, growing up with a big brother. What kind of relationship would we have had?”

“Pretty sure we would have been at each other’s throats most of the time,” William jokes.

“So nothing would change,” Mia shoots him a smirk.

“Most of the time doesn’t mean all of the time. I think Felicity’s pretty pleased that we’ve bonded.”

“I never apologized for punching you repeatedly in the face when we first met, before we knew who each other were.”

“No, you didn’t.” There’s another beat of silence. “Are you going to apologize?”

“No.”

William gives his sister a playful shove, causing her to roll in her chair across to the other side of the platform. Felicity feels as if she’s breaking in two, listening to these two interact. Oliver has long since turned away and is now sitting with his knees held to his chest, tears in his eyes. Their children didn’t grow up together. They grew up separately, and from what it sounds like - they didn’t even know each other existed. She hates herself - her future self - for allowing that to happen.

Mia, standing from her chair, walks back over to her brother and places her hands on his shoulders. “Careful, big brother. One more shove like that and I’ll think you’re aiming for a fight. And I think we both know who’d win.”

“Felicity will get mad if she finds out you beat me up again,” William retorts, a faint tremor of panic in his voice.

“Relax, I’m teasing,” Mia rolls her eyes.

“Where’d you learn to fight, anyway?” William asks her, continuing to type at Felicity’s computers - and now she knows who he is, she doesn’t mind so much. To think that her son has followed in her footsteps and become a technology expert is one that triggers a lump to form in her throat. “You trained with Dad, I presume.”

“Aunt Nyssa, actually,” Mia replies flippantly, as if it’s no big deal. Oliver turns to Felicity with an incredulous look and mouths _Aunt Nyssa_ , and she’s equally as astounded. It’s good to know that their daughter received no doubt excellent self-defense tutelage, though. “Since I was four. What about you? I know you’re a clutz in the field and more likely to trip over your own feet than get shot while out on mission, but Mom and Dad must have made you get some training, right?”

“If Dad telling me to walk up to the biggest guy in the group and then ‘go for the nose’ counts as training, then yeah, I guess.”

Mia laughs. It’s such a wonderful sound, carefree and joyous. To know that she’s hearing her future daughter laugh… Felicity buries her head in Oliver’s shoulder as he gathers her into his lap so she can muffle her sob. “Sounds exactly like the kind of advice Dad would give to fight bullies.”

“Did you ever have that problem in school?” 

“I didn’t go to school. I was homeschooled. My existence has basically been kept secret for my entire life… I think Mom thought that if people knew my Dad was the Green Arrow, I’d be in danger.”

“You would have been,” William tells her. “I didn’t even have Dad’s surname but I was targeted. I nearly died several times while living with Dad and Felicity. Is that why your surname is Smoak and not Queen? So that criminals are less likely to immediately associate you as the Green Arrow’s daughter?”

“Yeah. I was a Smoak-Queen as a baby, but after Dad… well, Mom changed all my certificates so I legally became Mia Smoak.”

“Did it bother you?” William asks softly. “Not having that connection to Dad?”

“Did it bother you?” she counters. “You’ve changed your name to William Harris. You’ve essentially wiped away any and all connections with your family.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” William says, annoyed. “When Archer started being used for the wrong reasons… to hunt down vigilantes using DNA signatures, to kill them… I did what I had to do.” Felicity gapes, horrified to think that her system which she developed to help Team Arrow track down criminals is apparently being used in the future in such an awful way. “I erased myself from the system and yeah, that meant erasing everything linking me to Dad, but it meant that our shared DNA couldn’t be used against me. You _know_ how dangerous it is - you set off the alarms at Galaxy One because you have both Oliver and Felicity’s DNA. You’re not a vigilante, but if Connor hadn’t arrived in time, they would have dragged you off and done god knows what to you.” He pauses, taking a deep breath. He’s taking a moment to center himself - Felicity recognizes it, because Oliver does the same thing. “That’s why shutting down 2040’s corrupted version of Archer and bringing back 2019’s version to Felicity is so important.”

“Has the download finished yet?”

“It’s just completing now.” William pulls a USB drive out of the side of one of the monitors. “Done. Now we can take this back to Felicity and she can convert it into a system that we and the Canaries can use. Hopefully with this, we can take on Galaxy One and fully shut them down.”

They’re leaving. A tightness in Felicity’s chest constricts her breathing and she’s struck by panic at the thought of not even getting to see her son and daughter properly. Before she even realizes what she’s doing - pregnancy brain has been messing with her logic and reasoning recently - she’s standing and stumbling away from the medbay towards the platform, opening her mouth to call both of their names. Oliver hisses at her, tries to grab her arm to stop her, but she twists her wrist out of his grasp.

Mia’s twirled around and aiming an arrow at Felicity before she can even blink. She didn’t see the bow and quiver on the floor of the platform before because of her position, but she’s starkly aware of it now, since she can hear the creak of the bowstring. Mia’s eyes, which are a breathtaking sea green color, meet her own, and despite the fact that she doesn’t know this girl yet, and won’t for several more months, Felicity feels like she can see Mia’s soul laid out before her. The raw determination and courage in her stance scream Oliver’s influence, as well as her wariness and vigilance. But there’s a sharp intelligence in Mia’s gaze, a calculating glimmer that Felicity suspects comes from her.

Oliver rushes out to protect her, trying to step in front of her, but Felicity holds out her arm and forces him to stay back. She holds Mia’s stare until she sees her grown-up daughter soften ever so slightly. There there it is - exactly what she’s been waiting for - the tender, kind spark of emotion that proves to Felicity that Mia isn’t going to hurt her. She’s putting on an intimidating act to defend herself. Encasing herself in a cold, stony exterior to shield her heart. It’s precisely what both Felicity and Oliver do when they’re vulnerable.

William, however, doesn’t seem to have as much faith in Mia as Felicity does, because he shoots out of his chair and grabs Mia’s shooting arm from behind her, attempting to push it down. “Mia, stop. You can’t do that!”

“The only thing Mom said not to do was impact the timeline.”

“I’m pretty sure if she knew this was a possibility, she would have told you _not_ to shoot her while she’s pregnant with you.”

Mia lowers her bow, shooting her brother an irritated glare. “I’m not going to shoot my mom,” she mutters.

“Good to know,” Felicity says with a small smile. “Although I suspect my older self isn’t going to be very happy… this is very much impacting the timeline.”

“I’m sorry,” William says sheepishly. “You weren’t meant to run into us.” He leans around Mia to give them an adorable wave. “Hi, Felicity. Hi Dad.”

“Which speedster is to blame for this time travel mishap, then?” is the first thing Oliver says, an amused twinkle in his eyes.

“Strangely enough, not a speedster’s fault,” William responds with a grin. “Felicity and I managed to fix up one of the Time Couriers that the Time Bureau uses. Mia and I were sent back here deliberately, on a mission.”

“To gain access to 2019’s version of Archer,” Felicity finishes for him.

“How long have you been eavesdropping for?” Mia questions suspiciously.

“Long enough to know for certain that you’re our children from the future,” Oliver answers, taking Felicity’s hand and standing at her side. The four of them are squaring up to each other now - Oliver and Felicity at the bottom of the platform steps, and Mia and William at the top - but Felicity still can’t believe that this is actually happening. It’s overwhelming. Oliver must feel the same way, because he lapses into silence for a minute, simply staring at their two children standing before them. Eventually, he comments to William shakily, “You’re almost as tall as me now.”

“Half an inch shorter,” William responds. There’s a haunted look in his eyes; Felicity swallows when she remembers that this William hasn’t seen his father in twenty years.

“He got all of the tall genes,” Mia says. “I can’t believe I’m the shortest one in our family.”

 _Our family_. She’s right. This is the Smoak-Queen family: Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, Mia Smoak and William Clayton (or is it Harris now?). 

“You’re definitely the smallest one, at the moment,” William says, pointing at Felicity’s swollen belly.

“Size of a lemon,” Oliver immediately says, because he’s been obsessing over those fruit-comparison charts recently and likes to update Felicity every week.

The archer is stretching his arms out before Felicity is able to wrap her head around the idea that the tiny lemon-sized baby currently gestating inside of her is going to grow into the woman in front of her. William pushes past Mia’s shoulder to step into the embrace without hesitation, his expression crumpling as he rests his forehead on his dad’s shoulder. Mia, however, just appears warier and takes a step back before side-stepping around them, descending the steps to stand beside Felicity.

She remembers everything that Mia and William said in their conversation. William didn’t grow up with Felicity and Oliver looking after him, but Mia implied that her father hadn’t been present for her childhood either. Mia might be uncomfortable around Oliver because she never truly knew him.

Felicity takes the opportunity to scrutinize her daughter, running her eyes up and down her. It’s obvious to her that Mia trains and works out because of the leanness of her frame, but the firmness of her muscles. She has the same broad shoulders that Oliver has, which Felicity joked about last week will be a pain when it comes to giving birth to the baby. She’s about to make a comment about it when Mia reaches out to brush her thumb over Felicity’s cheek.

“It’s strange to see you so young,” she murmurs, her voice slightly strained. There are tears in her eyes that she’s desperately trying to keep back. Felicity wants to tell Mia to cry all she wants, but she has a feeling that wouldn’t be very well received.

“This is strange for you?” Felicity laughs, although it turns into a sob at the end. “I’m meeting my unborn daughter from the future.” She gently takes hold of both of Mia’s hands, pausing to let the girl compose herself when she flinches at the touch, and then moves them until they’re resting over her baby bump. “Say hi to yourself.”

Mia stares down at the bump in disbelief and then whispers, “This is really weird.”

“Would you mind awfully if I hugged you?” Felicity asks.

Mia nods unsurely. She flinches again when Felicity wraps her arms around her, but within seconds, she’s slumping and relaxing against her mother. Felicity hears her daughter emit a quiet, tearful sound against her neck and slides her hand up from the small of Mia’s back to her hair, cradling it against her shoulder. She’s overcome with emotion as her daughter starts shaking from silent sobs. How long has it been since Mia has been embraced like this? Surely the Felicity from the future hugs her daughter. From the way Mia flinches and cringes, she obviously doesn’t experience positive touch often. She’s a fighter, through and through, and Felicity is beginning to think that in the future, her daughter might still be battling the enemies in the shadows that she and Oliver are attempting to bring down in the light of day.

How many times has her daughter been hurt, to be so hesitant to accept a hug? The thought shatters any emotional resolve she has left in her - she begins crying softly as well.

Hands slide over her shoulders and down her back, making Felicity jump, but she calms when she realizes it’s Oliver, offering her comfort. “It’s okay,” Oliver whispers. She doesn’t know whether he’s speaking to Felicity, Mia, or both of them, but it’s appreciated. “We’re right here.”

“But you’re not _there_ ,” Felicity hears Mia mumble under her breath.

Oliver must hear her as well, because his expression falls and he looks devastated. “Mia…”

He reaches out to touch her, and quick as a flash, Mia is worming her way out of her mother’s hug and backing away until her hip bumps into the staircase railing. William catches her arm, appearing worried for her, but Mia jolts at his touch and jumps away, skittish.

“Hi,” she says to Oliver, her voice tight.

He flashes a concerned smile at her. “Hi.” There’s an awkward pause where neither of them appears to know what to say, which is understandable. Felicity is certain that Oliver has figured out by now that future circumstances unknown to them result in him not being present to raise their daughter. Mia never got to know her father properly and now, face to face with him, she’s unsure of what they could possibly speak about. Oliver attempts to break the tense atmosphere, however, by commenting jokingly, “So William tells me you’re not all that fond of vigilantes.”

Mia bobs her head in a nod, eyes lowered to the floor as she kicks her foot back and forth, striking the ground with her heel. 

“I hope your mother and I get an exemption from that.”

“That’s what you want to talk about?” Mia says, her tone bitter. “How I hate vigilantes?”

Oliver looks taken back, and Felicity winces in sympathy. William, who has sidled up to her, links his arm with hers. She glances up at him with a smile - god, he’s _so tall now_ , it’s unfair - but swiftly returns her attention to her husband and future daughter, one hand drifting down to cover her baby bump.

“I’m a little out of my element here, Mia,” Oliver admits quietly. “We can talk about whatever you want to talk about.”

Mia stares at him, finally meeting the archer’s eyes, but then the fraction of a second later, she’s looking away, fixing her angry gaze on the Green Arrow mannequin as her top lip curls up into an enraged smirk. “I don’t think there _is_ anything to talk about. You haven’t done anything I want to speak to you about yet - all of that’s in the future for you - so there’s no point bringing it up.”

“I’m getting the impression that there’s a lot of things you want to say to me.”

“I can’t,” Mia responds shortly. “I don’t want to make my fetus self’s ears bleed.” She turns to William, a blank mask over her face now replacing her furious expression. “I think it’s time for us to go, Will. We’ve already been gone far too long - Mom will be worrying about us.”

William startles. “Wait - now? But we just got here.”

“We’ve got the uncorrupted version of Archer that Mom wanted. We’ve completed our mission. We have to get back to 2040.” She gestures to Felicity and Oliver. “Let’s wipe their memories and get to it.”

Felicity’s eyes widen and her head jerks in astonishment. “I’m sorry, did you just say _wipe our memories?_ ”

William shoots her an apologetic look. “No impact on the timelines,” he explains quickly, before peering back over at his sister and insisting, “We have to wipe their memories, sure, but it doesn’t have to be _now_. We can take a couple of hours to spend time with them. Felicity will understand.”

“Fine.” Mia bends down to pick up her bow and quiver, shouldering past her brother without any effort to be gentle. “Then you can stay here and do those feelings things. That’s not me. I can’t do that.”

William’s jaw drops. He runs to get in front of her, stopping her with a raised hand. “Mia, what are you doing?”

“Getting out of here. I won’t go home without you, but don’t take too long with whatever you want to do.”

“Okay, new question. _Why_ are you doing this?” William sounds upset.

She slaps his hand down when he tries to place it on her shoulder. “Just leave me alone, Will. Go and play happy nuclear family with 2019 Mom and Dad. I’ll wait for you in that alleyway we Time Courier-ed to originally.”

She swivels around to saunter away, but is stopped almost instantly by Oliver lunging out and taking a firm hold of her forearm.

“What are you doing?” Mia grits out, looking up at her father from under her lashes.

“Stopping you from making a decision you’re going to regret later,” Oliver says firmly. “You don’t want to leave. I know all of this is making you uncomfortable, but you have to confront it head-on, Mia. Felicity and I are your parents in the future - yes, it’s weird for you to be meeting us now when we’re much younger, it’s even weirder for us considering you haven’t been born yet - and I know you have a lot you want to say and ask us about. We want to connect with you - you just have to let us, okay?”

Mia’s breathing is shallow and harsh now; she’s beginning to hyperventilate. “Let go of me.”

Felicity realizes swiftly what’s happening and why Mia is suddenly so on edge; anxiety is something that has plagued both her and Oliver for years now, and Mia’s agitated behavior indicates she’s on the verge of having an attack. She needs to be grounded, but she’s too nervous and scared to let anybody touch her. And now that Oliver has her wrist in his grip, she’s lashing out at him like a cornered, injured animal. She wants to warn Oliver to be careful, but she trusts that her husband knows what he’s doing.

“Let go of me,” Mia repeats, her voice louder but also weaker at the same time.

“No,” Oliver replies calmly.

“Please, just let me go!” Tears are streaming down Mia’s face at this point. “Just let me go.”

He draws her closer in, not caring about how much she’s struggling against him, until he can hug her. Mia wrestles his grasp, trying to get out of it, but Oliver just tightens his arms around her, closing his eyes tightly as her fists rain hell down on his back. “I’m not letting you go, Mia. I’m never letting you go. You hear me? _Never_.”

“ _Dad_ …” Mia croaks.

It’s the first time she’s said that word to Oliver’s face since she arrived here.

“I am _never letting you go_.”

The dam breaks. Mia collapses into her father’s embrace with a chorus of sobs. Her face buried against his chest, her fingers claw at his shirt. The sounds she emits are guttural and heartwrenching. It’s so distressing to hear that Felicity has to bite her lip and squeeze her eyes closed to stop herself from dissolving into tears. The carefully constructed ice wall protecting Mia’s fragile emotions is fractured and cracking, revealing the bruised and broken soul beneath. At heart, Mia is just a little girl who has fought and lost so much because of this cruel world, who just wants to be loved unconditionally and cared for. But she’s scared - so scared to accept that she needs that warmth and consolation, because accepting that means accepting that she’s not the impenetrable iron warrior she likes to believe she is.

“I don’t want you to die,” Mia whispers into her father’s shoulder. “Please, I don’t want you to die. Don’t leave Mom and me alone.”

It’s like a suckerpunch to the stomach. 

Felicity doesn’t realize she’s started crying until William tugs at her hand, murmuring to her gently that they should give Mia and Oliver some space. She nods, wiping away the wetness on her cheeks, and strokes her fingers over the swell of her belly as William leads her to the other side of the bunker where the couches and mini fridge are set up. Felicity spirals, losing herself to thoughts of losing her husband and having to raise her baby girl alone, and barely notices as William pulls off her shoes and stretches a blanket out over her legs. She returns to the present when he cautiously taps her knee and offers her a glass of water and a breakfast bar.

“So Oliver dies in the future,” she mutters, as William sits down beside her.

“I don’t know.”

Her gaze flicks over to him. Her temper is short because of pregnancy hormones, and she feels her anger rising to squash out her anguish. “But Mia said -”

“Mia has gone through a lot and this is the first time I’ve seen her break down since I found her,” William tells her steadily. “Nobody knows for sure what actually happened to Dad - just that he went missing and vanished from the face of the earth. In fact, I think you - _future_ you - is the only one who knows what happened - what _will happen_ \- to him. But 2040 Felicity refuses to talk about it.” He grimaces. “I think it causes her too much pain.”

“Oliver might not be dead.” She clenches her hands around the glass until her knuckles turn white. “But whatever happens to him, it means he’s not there to help me raise Mia.”

“You’re not going to remember this later. You don’t need to -”

“- worry about it?” she interjects. “I think I do. I have the future of my child to think about.” She pauses, and then corrects with a wince, “Children. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” William takes hold of her free hand, massaging it gently. Felicity’s head rolls back against the couch cushions. “If you heard mine and Mia’s conversation earlier, you know that I’ve already forgiven you and Dad. There’s no need to discuss it.”

“William…”

“I promise. It’s fine, Felicity. I’ve made my peace with it. The you in the future has as well. This isn’t something you need to be concerned about right now. Stress is bad for you, and bad for the baby.”

“You mean bad for Mia.”

“I can’t imagine how much this is messing with your mind, to see a twenty-year-old version of your daughter who you’re pregnant with right now.” He takes the empty glass from her, placing it on the coffee table. “I have to ask now - do you want to know anything about the future? If not, I can make sure not the mention it. I know we’re wiping your memories later, but it’s totally up to you whether you want to know for now.”

“No,” Felicity decides. “I think everything I’d heard already from your and Mia’s conversation is enough to go by.” She eyes him carefully. “What do you think?”

“Of the future? It’s… rough,” he says carefully. “But we get by. Mia is a bright light for me. I never thought I’d get a little sister, and she’s all I could ever ask for. She’s wonderful, and sweet and kind when you get to know her. She likes to act as if she’s this gruff, threatening heavy-hitter who can handle anything thrown her way, but she secretly has a heart of gold. She’s essentially the perfect little hybrid of you and Dad.”

“I bet that makes her a pain in the ass sometimes,” Felicity chuckled.

“She can be… difficult,” William allowed, grinning. “But I love her anyway.”

The two of them turn around when they hear footsteps approaching. Oliver has his arm slung around Mia’s shoulders and although both their eyes are red-rimmed and their cheeks are flushed, indicating that they’ve been crying, they have matching shy smiles on their faces. Mia has calmed down, and is actually leaning into her father’s touch.

“Everything okay?” Felicity asks gently.

“Much better, I think.” Oliver flicks a stray stand of Mia’s blonde hair behind her ear for her. “Mia was thinking that they could stay a few hours and join us for breakfast at our apartment before leaving to go back to 2040.”

“That sounds like an amazing idea,” William agrees, springing to his feet. “Can you make pancakes, Dad?”

“Sure,” the archer grins, pleased at his son’s enthusiasm. “Toppings?”

“Strawberries and cream,” Felicity, Mia, and William all say simultaneously.

“Great. It’s a little early for breakfast, so I was thinking that we could hang out here in the bunker until seven, and head home for eight.”

“Mia, why don’t you and your dad do some archery training together?” Felicity suggests.

Mia blinks at her, and then looks over at her dad hopefully. He gives her a thumbs up. “Okay,” she says, her voice a little quiet, but she’s still smiling.

“You two should spar,” William says. “I have a feeling that Mia might be able to take Dad down. The Green Arrow vs Blackstar, available one very early morning only.”

“Blackstar?” Felicity echoes.

To her delight, Mia blushes. “Um, it’s my codename.”

“It’s cool. Do you have a codename?” Oliver asks William.

“Not yet. Felicity from our time said she’s been trying to think of one for me, though.” Glancing over at Felicity, William informs her, “You should probably take a nap. You look dead on your feet.”

“He’s right,” Oliver nods. “Precious cargo, remember, Felicity?”

“I’m being reduced to nothing but cargo now?” Mia snorts.

“I called you precious, didn’t I?”

Felicity does end up taking a nap, only because she’s so exhausted. Incubating a mini Oliver-Felicity hybrid is taking its toll on her; she’s constantly feeling fatigued. When she wakes up, a couple of hours have passed and she finds Mia and William both kneeling on the ground beside the touch, very tenderly placing their hands over her belly bump and snickering to each other. Oliver tells them off for waking her up, and Felicity laughs when the two children look chastised and slink away.

“Who won?” Felicity asks Oliver, as he switches out his sweaty t-shirt for a fresh one. Judging by the nicks on his face and the specks of blood on his knuckles, Mia gave him an excellent fight.

“It was a draw,” Oliver says.

“He’s lying,” William calls from where he’s collecting Mia’s bow and quiver for her from the platform. “Mia decimated him.”

“You agreed to keep your mouth shut,” Oliver shoots their grown-up son from the future a half-hearted glare.

“You agreed not to lie,” William raises his eyebrows.

“He’s got you there,” Felicity laughs.

Mia appears with a towel over her shoulder and a water bottle in hand. “Dad’s sort of right. It was a draw, up until the last ten seconds. And it wasn’t really a fair win - I used a move Aunt Nyssa taught me that she specifically told me Dad didn’t know about when she was training me.” She looks over at her father. “I’m starving. I think somebody said something about pancakes?”

Breakfast at Oliver and Felicity’s apartment goes without a hitch. The four of them stick to topics that don’t involve the bleak apocalypse of a future waiting for them, like Smoak Tech developments, William’s own company he’s set up and, much to Mia’s mortification, their love lives. She has a particularly strong emotional and romantic connection to a boy called Connor, and after William tells them this, Mia flicks half of a strawberry at his head; strawberry syrup ends up in William’s hair, and he’s about to retaliate by throwing one back at her when Oliver admonishes them both like the true father at heart he is.

When the time comes for Mia and William to leave, there’s not a dry eye in the room. Each hug lasts for at least five minutes; it’s not for long enough, but any length of time would feel too short.

The timeline has to be preserved, for better, for worse. And that means wiping their memories.

Oliver and Felicity change back into their pajamas and get into bed, as William says that erasing their memories with the Time Courier device will knock them unconscious for a good hour. They hold each other’s hands and the hands of their children as they lie down, peering up at them through tear-filled eyes.

“We love you so much,” Oliver tells them both, his voice wrecked. “We always will, no matter what happens, where we end up, or who you or we become. I hope you know that.”

“We do,” William murmurs, desperately trying to wipe his tears away.

Oliver nods, and then turns to Mia. “I love you. So much. You mean more to me than the universe itself,” he says seriously. “I don’t know what happens to me that makes it so I don’t get to raise you, but please know, I’m going to try my hardest to stay. I would never leave you or your mother willingly.”

Mia throws herself down on top of him, giving him one last hug as she sobs very quietly into his shirt. Oliver cups the back of her head and gives her a lingering kiss on her forehead. Trying to compose herself, their daughter moves around to the other side of the bed to give Felicity one last hug as well, while Oliver and William embrace.

“I’ll see you soon,” Felicity whispers in Mia’s ear. She pats her belly. “You’ll be here by October, after all.”

“October 11th,” Mia tells her wetly. “I love you.”

When the memory eraser is used on her, Felicity feels as if she’s falling asleep, but a thought remains at the back of her mind that falling asleep could also feel like dying. She’s losing both of her children. Death would be preferable to having her memories of them stolen. She feels both William and Mia’s lips on her forehead as the darkness enfolds and encases her, and the last thing she hears before the blackness crashes over is her daughter and son telling her that they love her and they’ll find her.

Oliver and Felicity wake up after the sun has risen to find four plates, four glasses and four sets of cutlery in the sink, much to their confusion, their eggs gone from the fridge, and Archer mysteriously completely reset.

The two of them chalk it down to being incredibly tired last night.

But still, as Felicity eats the grilled cheese Oliver makes for her to appease her constantly changing cravings, she feels empty, and her heart aches inside her tight chest.

As though she’s lost something she never knew that she had.

**Author's Note:**

> *peeks over my protective barrier* i... hope you enjoyed? feel free to leave a comment. abuse, yelling and swearing is ok. tell me how you really feel
> 
> tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
> twitter: @lexiblackbriar


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